I understand what happened (I think) and why he did this, but it was still very hard on his wife. I hope their marriage survives. And him too, of course. I hope Babchenko already had good life insurance, because I think he just became an even higher risk.

I understand what happened (I think) and why he did this, but it was still very hard on his wife. I hope their marriage survives. And him too, of course. I hope Babchenko already had good life insurance, because I think he just became an even higher risk.

Russian hybrid operations and information warfare have dominated the headlines of late. Billed as a new threat to Western democratic societies, Russian hybrid operations run the gamut from fake Facebook accounts targeting unsuspecting U.S. voters with fake news to economic information used for foreign policy gain. The term itself may indeed be new but the concept is as old as warfare and diplomacy, and Russia’s neighbors have had to live with it for a long time. Few countries can match Finland’s long experience of dealing with Soviet and Russian hybrid warfare—before, during, and after the Cold War—and few countries have had as much success in standing up to it. The secret of Finland’s success can be found in the resilience of Finnish society, which is derived from its unique history and record of combining firmness with flexibility in dealing with its much larger, difficult, and unpredictable neighbor.

"Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened."-- Winston Churchill"Anyone who has the power to make you believe absurdities has the power to make you commit injustices" Voltaire

" Finnish people developed the attitude of “sisu” (pronounced – see’-soo) or “persistence and determination” during the early years of their country’s formation."

Might have mentioned this a long time ago at BB- one of the Häkkinen kids was ten years old, driving his father's car on a frozen lake when he lost control and crashed it into the garage. His father came out, saw the wreck and asked him "What are you doing with that piece of shit car?" He then reached into his pocket, produced another set of keys, and demanded that his son "now get back out there and practice!"

Ambassador Spock: "There's an old Vulcan proverb, that only Nixon could go to China, and only Trump could screw up North Korea."

“Well, Doctor, what have we got—a Republic or a Monarchy?”
“Do you believe we can trust you rabble with a Republic?"

Unfortunately one of our two major political parties have fully embraced these types of attacks on our nation and, in fact, have created their own web of propaganda outlets to spread it as well as create their own. Until the traitors are defeated at home we are doomed to be Putin's bitch.

" 'Individual conscience' means that women only get contraceptives if their employers, their physicians, their pharmacists, their husbands and/or fathers, pastors, and possibly their mayors, Governors, State Secretaries of Health, Congressmen, Senators, and President all agree that in that particular case they're justifiable." --D.C. Sessions

"That's the problem with being implacable foes - no one has any incentive to treat you as anything more than an obstacle to be overcome."

"The 'Road to Serfdom' is really all right turns." --Progressive Whisperer

""The GOP ... where every accusation is also a confession." --Progressive Whisperer

Unfortunately one of our two major political parties have fully embraced these types of attacks on our nation and, in fact, have created their own web of propaganda outlets to spread it as well as create their own. Until the traitors are defeated at home we are doomed to be Putin's bitch.

I don't see how things will get better until some way is found to address the right's propaganda outlets and I am not sure how you do that without having 1st Amendment issues. Restoring the Fairness Doctrine might be a start.

Pray for Trump: Psalm 109:8

"Science is more than a body of knowledge; it is a way of thinking. I have a foreboding of an America in my children's or grandchildren's time - when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the key manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers arc in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the public interest can even grasp the issues; when the people have lost the ability to set their own agendas or knowledgeably question those in authority; when, clutching our crystals and nervously consulting our horoscopes, our critical faculties in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and what's true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition and darkness.”

— Carl Sagan
The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark
1995

“As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.”

— H.L. Mencken
On Politics: A Carnival of Buncombe

“The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.”

The top U.S. counterintelligence official is advising Americans traveling to Russia for football’s World Cup beginning this week that they should not take electronic devices because they are likely to be hacked by criminals or the Russian government.

In a statement to Reuters on Tuesday, William Evanina, an FBI agent and the director of the U.S. National Counterintelligence and Security Center, warned World Cup travelers that even if they think they are insignificant, hackers could still target them.

“If you’re planning on taking a mobile phone, laptop, PDA, or other electronic device with you - make no mistake - any data on those devices (especially your personally identifiable information) may be accessed by the Russian government or cyber criminals,” he said.

“Corporate and government officials are most at risk, but don’t assume you’re too insignificant to be targeted,” Evanina added. “If you can do without the device, don’t take it. If you must take one, take a different device from your usual one and remove the battery when not in use.”

Evanina’s warning comes as U.S. intelligence, law enforcement and congressional officials are still investigating Russian hacking in the 2016 presidential election and whether anyone with President Donald Trump’s campaign was aware of or aided it. Trump has repeatedly denied there was any collusion and Russia has said it did not meddle in the U.S. election.

Another U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said British security agencies have issued similar warnings to the British public and the England football team, which is competing for the World Cup.

" 'Individual conscience' means that women only get contraceptives if their employers, their physicians, their pharmacists, their husbands and/or fathers, pastors, and possibly their mayors, Governors, State Secretaries of Health, Congressmen, Senators, and President all agree that in that particular case they're justifiable." --D.C. Sessions

"That's the problem with being implacable foes - no one has any incentive to treat you as anything more than an obstacle to be overcome."

"The 'Road to Serfdom' is really all right turns." --Progressive Whisperer

""The GOP ... where every accusation is also a confession." --Progressive Whisperer

After musing that Russian President Vladimir Putin should rejoin the G-7 group of economic allies and suggesting publicly that he’d like to meet with Putin again, President Donald Trump is set to meet with Putin in mid-July, CNN reported Thursday.

According to two sources familiar with the matter who spoke to CNN, Trump and Putin will meet around the time that Trump is in the UK and taking part in a NATO summit, despite Trump’s interest in having Putin come to Washington, D.C. Moscow reportedly wanted the meeting to be in a neutral location and the source told CNN it will likely take place in Vienna.

Trump’s National Security Adviser John Bolton plans to visit Moscow and has taken charge of communications between the two countries, a spokesperson told reporters on Thursday.

" 'Individual conscience' means that women only get contraceptives if their employers, their physicians, their pharmacists, their husbands and/or fathers, pastors, and possibly their mayors, Governors, State Secretaries of Health, Congressmen, Senators, and President all agree that in that particular case they're justifiable." --D.C. Sessions

"That's the problem with being implacable foes - no one has any incentive to treat you as anything more than an obstacle to be overcome."

"The 'Road to Serfdom' is really all right turns." --Progressive Whisperer

""The GOP ... where every accusation is also a confession." --Progressive Whisperer

ikileaks has published a list of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement employees, many also including their LinkedIn profiles.

The Russia-linked “independent journalism” operation which has often sowed discord in the United States had become a favorite of the right after intervening in the 2016 election by leaking stolen emails from Democratic presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton and others in her orbit.

Quote

BREAKING. WikiLeaks publishes ICEPatrol, a searchable archive of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) employees with LinkedIn profiles. WL is making this dataset available again, after it was taken down, as a part of its anti-censorship mission. https://t.co/9a3e6bZPb1

— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) June 22, 2018

But now that Wikileaks is doxxing law enforcement agents under fire for enacting a very controversial Trump administration policy, Trump’s fans are not happy.

“You’re endangering innocent peoples lives but you won’t let us know if Seth Rich who is already dead was killed by dems for leaking info to you?” writes one conspiracy-minded Trumpista.

Others called for Twitter to remove the list of government employees—which at least one person pointed out was public information and not a state secret, like so many other things Wikileaks publishes.

It makes you wonder how upset they'd be if it was a list of FBI and DoJ employees investigating Russian meddling. Yeah, I know the answer already.

" 'Individual conscience' means that women only get contraceptives if their employers, their physicians, their pharmacists, their husbands and/or fathers, pastors, and possibly their mayors, Governors, State Secretaries of Health, Congressmen, Senators, and President all agree that in that particular case they're justifiable." --D.C. Sessions

"That's the problem with being implacable foes - no one has any incentive to treat you as anything more than an obstacle to be overcome."

"The 'Road to Serfdom' is really all right turns." --Progressive Whisperer

""The GOP ... where every accusation is also a confession." --Progressive Whisperer

"Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened."-- Winston Churchill"Anyone who has the power to make you believe absurdities has the power to make you commit injustices" Voltaire

Understandably, it got little attention in today’s rush of news. But spare a moment for this. CNN had a short package of news on the now finalized plans for a summit between President Trump and Vladimir Putin. As the CNN reporter in Moscow put it, “the Russians [are] clearly showing they are in the driver’s seat on this.” Here’s short excerpt of video with John Bolton in a begging mode, insisting there’s no problem with the summit, while Russian state television mockingly says Russia elected Trump.

“Cybersecurity is a topic for the summit. Because what are the main accusations we hear in the past years from the American side? That our great and terrible Russian hackers invaded the American space? Which many see as aggression against the country – and that we caused some trouble there? What trouble did we cause? We just elected Trump. That’s all.”

So, Mr. Bolton, how does Mr. Putin's Preparation H taste?

" 'Individual conscience' means that women only get contraceptives if their employers, their physicians, their pharmacists, their husbands and/or fathers, pastors, and possibly their mayors, Governors, State Secretaries of Health, Congressmen, Senators, and President all agree that in that particular case they're justifiable." --D.C. Sessions

"That's the problem with being implacable foes - no one has any incentive to treat you as anything more than an obstacle to be overcome."

"The 'Road to Serfdom' is really all right turns." --Progressive Whisperer

""The GOP ... where every accusation is also a confession." --Progressive Whisperer

As far as the white evangelical voters are concerned, Putin is doing God's Work, just like Dumpster -- impure vessels for His Holy Purposes. Dumpster is going to deliver their SCOTUS victory to start ridding America of it's ungodly filth. They want him to keep the Russian campaign up for the 2018 and especially 2020 elections.

"All glory to the HypnoTrump, or else..."

"It all makes sense when you remind yourself that the GOP is no longer a political party but turned into an organized crime family"

"I hope to live long enough that the name Trump is reviled as much as the name Hitler or Stalin"

Just posted the article. I'm betting no responses from the "loyalists". (If I get one I'll advise)

ETA: Zippo, nada, <crickets>

Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.

Rev Martin Luther King Jr.

Obamacare took my guns away and put me in a FEMA reeducation camp.

Anonymous

If you've got public schools paid for by taxpayers, you're in a socialist nation. If you have public roads paid for by taxpayers, socialist nation. If you've got public defense (police, fire, military, coast guard) paid for by tax dollars, socialist nation. If you're in a nation that has nationalized or localized delivery of services that are not paid for by users alone, you're in a socialist nation- the only question is how socialist. As I see it, we have the military pay to protecting the shipping lanes for our fuel needs which makes up very socialist. In a capitalist nation, the people supplying the oil would pay for their own defense force.

We’re far past the point where it matters whether President Trump is a ignorant and destructive fool or operates as some sort of agent of the Russian Federation. The upshot appears to be the same. The Washington Post reports that President Trump has tasked the Pentagon with analyzing withdrawing US troops from Germany. Quoting the nominal explanation the Post was given: “Trump was said to have been taken aback by the size of the U.S. presence, which includes about 35,000 active-duty troops, and complained that other countries were not contributing fairly to joint security or paying enough to NATO.”

This is in advance of the NATO summit next month which will be followed shortly after by a summit with Vladimir Putin. The German troop presence news comes after we learned that in April Trump tried to persuade President Macron of France to leave the European Union. Days ago Trump told a crowd in North Dakota that “the European Union, of course, was set up to take advantage of the United States, to attack our piggy bank.” Trump apparently ‘joked’ about pulling the US out of NATO with the Prime Minister of Sweden. More strikingly, he told G-7 members in Canada earlier this month that “NATO is as bad as NAFTA.”

What The Times of London calls a “senior EU diplomat” says of these comments and gambits, “we are more and more concerned they are not just incidents. It starts to look like a very worrying pattern” and refers to “an American doctrine in which there are no friends, only enemies” with no “rules-based order”. “It is very dangerous,” the source told the paper.

Some of this comes from Trump’s longstanding protectionist views which I would argue are rooted in his zero sum concept of deal-making. But the role of Russia, the efforts to liquidate NATO and the continuing and aggressive courtship of Putin show it is part of some broader agenda. Someone, eventually, will have to place some check on Trump’s power. For the moment, the entire cadre of political appointees in the administration and the leadership of Congress appears entirely inert and passive, if not outright supportive. It is important to remember that the President has zero constitutional authority over trade policy. That is 100% on loan from Congress. It’s remarkable that this is all happening before our eyes and no one in power is taking any stand or action to counter it.

We’re in a lot of danger.

" 'Individual conscience' means that women only get contraceptives if their employers, their physicians, their pharmacists, their husbands and/or fathers, pastors, and possibly their mayors, Governors, State Secretaries of Health, Congressmen, Senators, and President all agree that in that particular case they're justifiable." --D.C. Sessions

"That's the problem with being implacable foes - no one has any incentive to treat you as anything more than an obstacle to be overcome."

"The 'Road to Serfdom' is really all right turns." --Progressive Whisperer

""The GOP ... where every accusation is also a confession." --Progressive Whisperer

During his first formal summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin this month, President Donald Trump plans to meet with the world leader one-on-one, CNN reported.

Aides will be allowed to enter the meeting, which is set for July 16 in Helsinki, Finland, after the two have had a chance to talk on their own. This will be the first time the two have met for a formal summit. Previously, Putin and Trump have had meetings on the margins of other global gatherings.

During his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, Trump met with the regime leader one-on-one for more than an hour. Trump told reporters ahead of that meeting that he wanted to assess their chemistry up-close.

According to a person familiar with planning who spoke with CNN, Trump hopes to develop a better leader-to-leader relationship with Putin.

Without aides present, there will be no official record of the conversation between the two presidents. Putin and Trump have met once before without aides, for more than an hour at the G20 summit.

" 'Individual conscience' means that women only get contraceptives if their employers, their physicians, their pharmacists, their husbands and/or fathers, pastors, and possibly their mayors, Governors, State Secretaries of Health, Congressmen, Senators, and President all agree that in that particular case they're justifiable." --D.C. Sessions

"That's the problem with being implacable foes - no one has any incentive to treat you as anything more than an obstacle to be overcome."

"The 'Road to Serfdom' is really all right turns." --Progressive Whisperer

""The GOP ... where every accusation is also a confession." --Progressive Whisperer

On MSNBC, veteran U.S. intelligence agent and best-selling author Malcolm Nance said that Trump has a “Chamberlain-esque attitude toward this whole thing” and “was going to lay down.”

“Donald Trump is going there to meet with his handler,” Nance said. “He is going to meet with someone who he has been worshipping and admiring for years. Not just the last two years.”

Nance also laid out a brief history of Trump’s troubling dealings with Russia and how he was radicalized by a meeting with the oligarchs.

" 'Individual conscience' means that women only get contraceptives if their employers, their physicians, their pharmacists, their husbands and/or fathers, pastors, and possibly their mayors, Governors, State Secretaries of Health, Congressmen, Senators, and President all agree that in that particular case they're justifiable." --D.C. Sessions

"That's the problem with being implacable foes - no one has any incentive to treat you as anything more than an obstacle to be overcome."

"The 'Road to Serfdom' is really all right turns." --Progressive Whisperer

""The GOP ... where every accusation is also a confession." --Progressive Whisperer

"Science is more than a body of knowledge; it is a way of thinking. I have a foreboding of an America in my children's or grandchildren's time - when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the key manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers arc in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the public interest can even grasp the issues; when the people have lost the ability to set their own agendas or knowledgeably question those in authority; when, clutching our crystals and nervously consulting our horoscopes, our critical faculties in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and what's true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition and darkness.”

— Carl Sagan
The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark
1995

“As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.”

— H.L. Mencken
On Politics: A Carnival of Buncombe

“The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.”